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The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in Esmeralda Santiago’S When I Was Puerto Rican (1993)

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The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in Esmeralda Santiago’S When I Was Puerto Rican (1993) FAURJ The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in Esmeralda Santiago’s When I was Puerto Rican (1993) Sarah Stamos and Carmen Cañete-Quesada Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Abstract: “The Code-Switching and Confluence of Languages in Esmeralda Santiago’s When I was Puerto Rican (1993)” is an essay/article written to produce and analyze thought on the style of code-switching of Spanish-English bilinguals. Santiago’s memoir details her young life in Puerto Rico in a rural home and society and then how she had to transition when she and her family moved to New York. Code-switching is when, in reference to Spanish and English, a person who speaks English will substitute an English word or phrase for a Spanish word or phrase. This occurs primarily with bilinguals. In When I was Puerto Rican, Santiago includes some Spanish words in her English context (because her primary language is English), practicing code-switching. This essay demonstrates the fundamentals of code-switching, how it is detailed in When I was Puerto Rican, and how events in history aided to its modern formation. “Code-switching” and the confluence of lan- The investigators discuss code-switching by ref- guages has been a linguistic manifestation of the erencing Spanish-English bilinguals and Chi- encounters between people of different cultures. nese-English bilinguals. In addition, they give Specifically concerning Spanish and English be- an example of the mechanics associated with tween the Caribbean and the United States, the code-switching by considering a specific sen- convergence of these two languages has greatly tence and studying how multilingual individuals heightened with the ever-continuing influx of incorporate more than one language: immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. This is primarily due to migration movements (1) I want a motorcycle VERDE. In this sen- as well as U.S. influence in Puerto Rico, which tence, the English word “green” is replaced became a commonwealth of the United States in with its Spanish equivalent. A noteworthy 1898. This essay is going to analyze the linguis- aspect of sentence (1) above is that the Span- tic impact of the U.S. influence in Puerto Rican ish adjective “verde” follows a grammati- society that has caused linguistic interferences in cal rule that is observed by most bilingual language and at the mechanics of code-switch- speakers that code-switch. Thus, according ing in Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir, When I was to the specific grammatical rule-governing Puerto Rican. This is to demonstrate how the sentence (1) above, sentence (2) I want a acculturation of Spanish-speaking societies has VERDE motorcycle would be incorrect be- facilitated the phenomenon of code-switching cause language switching can occur between and what effect this confluence has had on the an adjective and a noun, only if the adjective people as they incorporated themselves in the is placed according to the rules of the lan- U.S. To first understand the linguistic impact guage of the adjective. In this case, the ad- of code-switching, one must first understand jective is in Spanish; therefore, the adjective its technicality. Roberto R. Heredia and Jeffrey must follow the Spanish grammatical rule M. Brown explore the logistics of this linguis- that states that the noun must precede the tic process in their article “Code-Switching” adjective (1) (Heredia & Brown). as they describe how bilinguals tend to blend their languages when they communicate and John M. Lipski (2005) poses an interesting and how the amalgamated sentences follow a specif- legitimate topic in his article “Code-switching or ic structure. Heredia and Brown describe it as Borrowing? No sé so no puedo decir, you know.” the “phenomenon [that] occurs when bilinguals He discusses how multilinguals will code-switch substitute a word or phrase from one language by speaking Spanish and adding an English word with a phrase or word from another language.” every now and then. Some of these words in Volume 5 Spring 2016 31 FAURJ particular are so, but, anyways, I mean, and you galog, Arabic, Hebrew, Cantonese, Berber, Na- know; however, it is noted that this switch with huatl, and Polish, but I am specifically discussing words, according to Lipski, only happens among the linguistic tendency of bilingualism in Puerto true bilinguals: Rican diaspora. This tendency occurs gradually It would appear that the placement of En- and not deliberately with the contact of English glish so and similar items [(but, anyways, language because they are completing the ac- I mean, and you know)] into Spanish dis- tion of incorporating something new into their course in the United States began as inser- vocabulary. When a Hispanic person comes to tion among immigrants and among vesti- a new area he/she initially is still extremely at- gial or transitional bilinguals, and evolved tached to their language, culture, and ideals. lexicalization. (7) Leisurely, they begin to accept more and more of U.S. culture and begin to slightly change. This is It evolved into lexicalization because people get when code-switching is especially prominent— used to saying a particular phrase and thus in- when the speaker uses his/her own language and corporate it into their vocabulary. An example of borrows a term (or “functional item” according so used and an example of you know used from to Lipski [3]) from another language that he/she Lipski’s article are “...y yo soy el mayor de la fa- knows very well. milia, so yo tuve que ir a trabajar…” and “…una película que tenga un tema, you know, Ud. sabe, The introduction of Puerto Rican people to U.S. un tema especial…” (5). Likewise, so crosses society and vice versa occurred due to some spe- many boundaries in language and as specified by cific historical events. Starting with some basic Lipski, “so-insertion is one of the few bilingual history, Puerto Rico achieved its independence switching phenomena to occur in both bilingual from Spain in 1898 and then became a colony of and second-language speech” (3). “The incorpo- the United States following the Treaty of Paris. ration of so potentially represents a window of The Jones Act in 1917 then granted Puerto Ri- opportunity, highlighting the means by which cans U.S. citizenship. In 1947 the Puerto Ricans functional elements from one language grad- elected their own governor and in 1948 their ually insert themselves into another language first elected governor was Luis Muñoz Marín. during bilingual encounters” (3). This could be Finally, in 1952, Puerto Rico became a com- happening due to the question of time, due to monwealth of the United States. Additionally, that while the speaker is saying “so” he is provid- Operation Bootstrap (in Spanish known as Op- ing time to think of the next sentence in Spanish. eración manos a la obra) was established in 1947. Code-switching occurs in a variety of ways, one It transformed Puerto Rico from an agricultural of which is, where Lipski (2005) states, “calques economy into an industrial economy that was in- of idiomatic expressions in English [calques credibly developed. Operation Bootstrap created being another word for loan translation] are strong economic growth, but the rapid modern- frequent when speaking Spanish, with fewer ization was disadvantageous in that there were cases of Spanish calques in English discourse, negative social effects, like the accompaniment and numerous loans from English are present.” of “an absolute decrease in employment” due to And, relating to the previous paragraph, Lipski the introduction “of industries of higher produc- details that “unassimilated English words may tivity,” (Economy: Operation Bootstrap). The be freely inserted whenever the Spanish word is time period of Operation Bootstrap was also a unknown,” which is what is normally seen when time when Puerto Rican migration to the United code-switching is witnessed. An example he States (especially “Nueva York”) increased con- provides is “Anyway, yo creo que las personas who siderably. support todos estos grupos como los Friends of the Earth son personas que are very close to nature.” The effects of U.S. intervention in Puerto Rico through the Operation Bootstrap and other acts Lipski (2005) references Spanish-English bilin- created to control the commonwealth’s econo- guals, French-English bilinguals, Italian-English my is shown in Esmeralda Santiago’s memoir, bilinguals, as well as languages from distinctly “When I was Puerto Rican.” Santiago’s memoir different families such as Korean, Japanese, Ta- details her life as a child living in Puerto Rico. 32 Spring 2016 Volume 5 FAURJ She begins her life living in the rural Mancun, plemented its primary language of English, es- Puerto Rico with her mother, father, and two pecially into the teaching of it into Puerto Rico’s sisters. She grows up with the hardships of liv- schools. Throughout Santiago’s memoir she uti- ing in a rural area but is content. Her father lizes code-switching. Concerning Santiago’s spe- is not around very much and her mother has cific case, she grew up in Puerto Rico and then three other children in her young life. When moved to New York when she was a teenager. her mother gets a real job because they need She struggled at first but soon assimilated into money, Esmeralda (Negi) has to do more work U.S. culture, which she reflects in her epilogue of as the oldest child. They have to move to places the book. Now, English is her primary language such as Santurce, and stay with family/friends and that can be seen as she writes her memoir dealing with a variety of living conditions. Due in English. The code-switching occurs as she to one of her younger brothers getting terribly incorporates Spanish words occasionally that injured Esmeralda’s mother starts going to New better describe something from her childhood York occasionally until finally the entire family more accurately than an English word could.
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